I appreciate the information. I've got to believe, though, that some USB drives are drawing more current than others -- and that finding one that draws on the low side would help me out here. I've got a couple of USB drives, for example, that will (almost) never mount without being connected to two USB ports. On the other hand, the little drive PG supplied when it shipped Windows BIAB 2009 (not 2009.5) on USB (almost) always mounts. I'd just ahead go ahead and copy BIAB 2010 onto it and use it (that was my original plan) but I discovered it's a bit too small for BIAB 2010 with all its additional RealTracks.

It might be a bit off, off-topic, but I'm starting to think there's some kind of voodoo to whether a USB drive mounts, and I've occasionally seen the same flakiness with Firewire drives -- both the portables that are powered by a FW or USB port, and the larger drives that are connected to AC. I don't think it's my computer -- in fact, I routinely use several of the same USB (and FW) drives with three different computers, both PCS and Macs -- and with a couple of different USB and FW hubs, and connected directly. Sometimes a drive just won't mount, but it will when I reconnect it in the same way a minute later, and won't the next time. I don't know why, and quite clearly, neither does anybody at the manufacturer's tech support numbers.

I had a couple of bad Seagate drives a few years ago, but I've had better luck lately (with respect to the mounting issue) with Seagate's FreeAgent desktop drives than with WD's comparable MyBook externals. And since a couple of people have suggested Seagate here, I think I'll pick up a Seagate FreeAgent portable and give it a try. And cross my fingers...